A Bunk for the Night: A Guide to New Zealand's Best Backcountry Huts

by Shaun Barnett, Rob Brown, Geoff Spearpoint

New Zealand has a huge range of backcountry huts, most of which are available for public use. Some can sleep 80 people, while others are tiny two-bunk affairs with not even room to stand up and. They are located in our mountains, on the edge of fjords, our coastlines and lakes, beside rivers, in the bush and on the open tops. Together they form an internationally unique network of backcountry shelter, and these huts, so often full of character and history, are fantastic destinations in their own right.

A Bunk for the Night offers a guide to over 200 of the best of these huts to visit. This inspirational book has been written by Shaun Barnett, Rob Brown and Geoff Spearpoint, the authors of the seminal, bestselling history of New Zealand's backcountry huts Shelter from the Storm.

Featuring well-known huts from the main tramping areas in both the North and South Islands, the authors have also scoured the country for other interesting huts in out-of-the-way places, such as those in the Bay of Islands, on Banks Peninsula, and the Whanganui hinterland, the dry ranges of Marlborough and Stewart Island/Rakiura. This is a wonderful smorgasbord of must-visit huts, and an essential book for anyone who enjoys the great outdoors.

236 pages, Paperback

Published November 1, 2016

Reviews

[Lesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The revised edition of A bunk for the Night is a guide to over 200 huts throughout New Zealand Some can sleep 80 while others are tiny with a couple of bunks and all are found in back country of the North and South Islands as well as Stewart island . This second edition published in 2021 will be a must for anyone who enjoys tramping in remote areas of the country has been written by Shaun Barnett, Rob Brown and Geoff Spearpoint
Photos of each hut accompany a description, locality and explanation of how to access the hut
The book is well set out with Northland being the first listings, and following down the country to finish at Stewart Island / Rakiura.
A wonderful record of back country huts , I have enjoyed browsing at this publication over a month , and it sits well on my coffee table for visitors to enjoy as well.

[TraceyB · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great reference book

[G.J. Coop · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now A Bunk for the Night has been published it seems astonishing a book like this has taken so long.

The New Zealand backcountry huts are a remarkable resource that are available for use by the public, some requiring booking and pre-paying, others are the best price—free. With almost 1000 huts to chose from Bunk is a taster with images and information for about 224 huts, scattered across the backcountry landscape. A fair representation of the various types of huts are shown.

The authors are some of New Zealand's most well-regarded backcountry photographers and they show each of the huts in their unique settings. The images of Mueller or Chancellor Huts, for instance, just inspire you to experience the landscape.

Shelter from the Storm: The Story of New Zealand's Backcountry Huts, by the same authors, also published by Potton and Burton back in 2012, was a more scholarly history of various hut types: tramping club; alpine; national park; New Zealand Forest Service; musterers'; etc. That book mentioned many huts, and gave some focus to a few, but mainly concentrated on telling the story of those particular hut genres. There is some crossover between the two books, a few are featured in both, Whariwharangi, Bobs, Mintaro, etc.

A Bunk for the Night is a more fundamental resource than Shelter. Bunk provides the raw material about these "best" backcountry huts. In the forward Geoff Spearpoint discusses the hut selection criteria, after all there are more than 950 huts, small timber cabins, that are administered by the Department of Conservation in New Zealand from which to choose. The authors wanted to cover the country, but the individual selection was, well, individual. Huts that had been "memorable", and somehow "special". There could be four of these books and still not cover the full complement.

There is clearly scope for one or more sequel.

Everyone will have their own favourites that have been omitted. Why the dull Port William history, and not the fabulously located Bungaree Bay, or Long Harry Huts? There is nothing from the Hurunui catchment, although this area had some representation in Shelter.

But Abel Tasman is spot on, put 'em all in, and there is little to quibble about in Kahurangi, although the newish and splendid Venus, or the remote MOW Hut could well have been included. Bobs Hut is an old favourite with the mysterious "grave" and timber cross outside the door, and the ancient "Bob" photo on the inside wall.

The team took the opportunity to visit some truly awkward places to access: Robin Saddle, Ivory Lake, Sir Robert, etc. They take some getting to.

There are a few improvements which could be incorporated in a second edition.

Shelter managed a couple of maps to locate each hut, Bunk does not.

Surprisingly for a book that has "bunk" in the title there are few interior shots. After all, in many respects the interior is where many hut memories are created.

And there is little hint about the unique New Zealand backcountry hut experience—strangers being bundled together under one roof after a day's physical efforts, and sharing moments of their lives in close confines. Or how sharing a hut is a peculiar New Zealand leveller, entirely egalitarian. How people exist elsewhere is totally superfluous, rich or poor, it matters little. What concerns is how people present themselves at that moment—everyone is taken entirely at face value, although facades are quickly seen through.

This attractive volume will no doubt inspire many to get off the more popular tracks that are often overly saturated at peak times. Bunk makes us aware that there's a whole more adventurous world to be engaged with.